The Raptors are not equipped to be a playoff team right now, so they are going to have to make some moves when the lockout is over. The appear set in the starting lineup, but they need depth everywhere except point guard, unless they deal Jose Calderon. They need to find veterans to help fill out the bench and they should be able to get a deal on some of those players as they will be scrambling to find new homes after the lockout is over.

25-year old small forward Sonny Weems has signed a 1-year deal with a team in Lithuania that does not have an opt out clause for when the lockout ends. Weems played in 59 games (28 starts) for the Raptors last year and he averaged 23.9 minutes, 9.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He played in 128 games (47 starts) in his two years with the Raptors and he averaged 21.7 minutes, 8.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. The Raptors will likely miss Weems in 2011-12 as he gave them a lot of solid minutes the last couple of years.

28-year old SG/SF Leandro Barbosa has picked up his player option for the 2011-12 season to return to the Raptors and he will earn $7.6 million bucks. Barbosa played in 58 games (0 starts) for the Raptors last year and he averaged 24.1 minutes, 13.3 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. He has now played in 524 games (109 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 25.0 minutes, 12.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Barbosa will provide the Raptors with instant offense off the bench, but they were probably hoping that he wouldn’t pick up the option.

The Toronto Raptors picked 19-year old, 7′0″, 231 pound center Jonas Valanciunas out of Lithuania with the 5th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft. Valanciunas played in 59 games with 4 different teams last year and he averaged 18.6 minutes, 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.5 blocked shots in Europe. He played in 123 games in his three years in Europe and he is averaging 10.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game. The Raptors are going to have to at least wait at least one year and maybe two for Valanciunas. That isn’t going to help the Raptors at all for now, but Valanciunas is often compared to Pau Gasol, so he might be worth the wait.

UPDATE: (6/25/2011) - The Raptors have reached a buyout agreement with Jonas Valanciunas’ current basketball team (Lietuvos) which will allow him to start playing for them in the 2012-13 season. I really like this pick for the Raptors now.

The Toronto Raptors have hired 54-year old Dwane Casey as their next head coach. Casey spent his last three years as an assistant coach with the NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks. He was last a head coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2006-07 season and his team was 20-20 when he was fired. Casey has a 53-69 record (43.4%) during his two years as a head coach. Casey has been talking about making the Raptors a defensive team and that will be interesting to watch with the crew he has on the roster right now.